Spotlight on Green Schools

Schools are focusing more and more heavily on cutting back on the energy they use and trying to reduce their impact on the environment. The articles on these pages spotlight individual campus energy conservation programs, energy initiatives, solar installations, energy-related technology, HVAC, research, grants, policy, and other topics related to green campuses.

IBM and City University of New York have teamed up to develop a new analytics tool that's designed to help New York's public schools save on energy costs. The conservation program will also be used to give a boost to STEM education in the city's K-12 schools.

Limelight used to light up the stage in music halls. Now a wireless lighting system by the same name will get a test in a parking lot at the University of Michigan to see how well it can reduce energy usage and light up the space.

Reducing servers in the data center through virtualization saved so much money for Loyola University Chicago that the move paid for itself almost before the project was complete. At another Chicago institution, Saint Xavier University, annual virtualization savings from energy cuts and less hardware is estimated at some $7,500 a year--including not just a smaller utility bill, but fewer software licenses and greater efficiency.

A partnership between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Massachusetts energy company to reduce electrical use on campus by 15 percent has surpassed the initial target a year after it was formed.

A "smarter building" initiative is helping Bryant University in Smithfield, RI reduce its data center energy consumption by 15 percent. The project, which uses technology from both IBM and Schneider Electric, helps monitor and control building systems, including heating, ventilation, air conditioning, humidity, lighting, access control, video, and physical security.

With the help of a state jobs bill and a large renewable energy company, 21 school districts and eight community and technical colleges in Washington State are funding energy conservation projects that will help create local jobs and reduce utility costs.